


The One Where Craig Screws Up

by Preciadology



Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, Tweek is super fucking mad at his boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 03:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13332369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Preciadology/pseuds/Preciadology
Summary: This whole thing is all thanks to Craig's carelessness. Tweek is understandably furious.





	The One Where Craig Screws Up

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [История, в которой Крейг облажался](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14323773) by [DreamerX2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamerX2/pseuds/DreamerX2)



Craig had been dreading this moment. He’d been putting it off, telling himself he couldn’t tell Tweek about it yet because it was possible what he'd been finding was just around the corner, maybe in the bushes. But Craig had searched all around their front yard _and_ their backyard and yet, nothing. He wasn't going to pronounce anything truly missing until he'd searched the entire town. But if he was going to take his search to the rest of South Park, he'd need at least another set of eyes and Tweek was the only person he trusted enough to come search with him. Knowing how South Park was as a town, Craig was worried sick, of course. But he was also worried about Tweek’s reaction when he had to inevitably tell him. Part of him thought Tweek was _actually_ going to kill him, but another part of him reminded him that his boyfriend was a kind and understanding person. He’d be forgiven.

...Right?

He had just knocked on Tweek’s house’s front door before he cast his icy blue eyes down, fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie, a nervous habit of his that he didn’t do often, simply because he wasn’t very often nervous. A situation like this was one of the rare ones that did make him nervous, though.

The sound of the door opening caused his head to snap up. He found his boyfriend looking up at him curiously, probably because he wasn’t expecting to see him for another 6 hours for the movie date they’d scheduled today.

“Craig?” Tweek said, a small smile on his face, deeming Craig’s presence a nice surprise. Normally, Craig would have found that adorable, but right now, the fact that he was about to turn Tweek’s entire mood around- it was making him anxious. He started by taking a breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth, just like he always told Tweek when he was jittery.

“Babe, I have something important to tell you. You’re not gonna like it,” Craig began slowly. He didn’t want to drag it out, he wanted this over quickly, just rip it off like a band-aid. He was never one for skirting around an important topic anyway. He was blunt and straight-to-the-point, something Tweek loved about him, or at least that’s what Tweek said. Craig hoped with all of his heart that Tweek would still love him after this.

“I lost Stripe.”

For a while, he could see that Tweek was trying to process the information. He had a weird look on his face, like he was trying to pick apart those three words, dissect them, and put them back together to see if it made any sense. This scared Craig even more. This wasn’t something Tweek did often. He was usually quick to believe most of the things told to him, and therefore quick to react, especially to bad news. He guessed Tweek had decided that what he had revealed was the truth, because his brows furrowed together in anger. Craig bit his lip, bracing himself.

“ _YOU LOST OUR FUCKING GUINEA PIG_?!” Tweek yelled out, and Craig was pretty sure the entire state of Colorado heard that. There was probably an avalanche going on in the mountains somewhere right now.

“...Yeah. I’m sorry,” Craig said carefully. And then he sucked in cold air through his teeth, cringing at how pathetic that sounded.

“You’re _sorry_?! What is wrong with you?! How did this even happen?! Wh-where did you last see her?!” Tweek bombarded, anger quickly turning into panic. Craig hated seeing him like this, especially now that he was the cause. He sounded incredibly scared. Tweek cared a lot about Stripe. After all, he was the one who had gotten her for them. He utterly spoiled her, treating her like she was his actual child, even calling her their ‘baby’ sometimes. He’d bake guinea pig treats special for her and bring them over to Craig’s house where Stripe stayed, he’d get her little toys to play with all the time and he’d even go out with her resting in a little pouch tied around him, holding Craig’s hand while they walked around town together. It was understandable that he felt so strongly about this situation.

“I took her outside to get some air. We were sitting at the steps of my front door and I set her down beside me. Then, mom called me from in the house and yelled at me to go help Tricia with her science project. So I did and I...I kind of forgot to get Stripe back inside with me and when I remembered she was out there, I went back out and...she was gone,” Craig explained in the calmest voice he could muster in an attempt to maybe rub some of that calmness off on Tweek.

Unfortunately, this appeared to have angered Tweek even more. “Why do you sound like you don’t care that our baby’s out there _missing_?!”

“I always sound like I don’t care, honey,” Craig reminded. “But I do, I promise.”

“If you _really_ cared about her, you wouldn’t have lost her!” Tweek snapped. Craig felt the words sting at him. Stripe was one of the few things in the entire world he actually cared about. He loved this Stripe, and every single one of the three Stripes he had before her. It was just that Craig tended to be a bit reckless. It didn’t at all mean that he didn’t care about them. He was trying to get better at it now that she was Tweek’s too, and he thought he _was_ getting better, at least until _this_ happened. He and Tweek were giving it their all raising her together and now he messed it all up and lost her. Tweek had every right to be mad at him.

“We are going to go out and find her _right now_ , do you understand?!” Tweek exclaimed.

“Yes, babe,” Craig replied carefully. “We can start at my front yard.”

Tweek didn’t reply, just stepped outside and shut the door behind him before pushing past Craig and walking briskly in the direction of Craig’s house. Craig trailed slightly behind him and made a move to grab for Tweek’s hand. Holding or touching him in some form always comforted Craig, which is why he absolutely deflated when Tweek slapped his hand away.

“No! You’re not holding my hand until we find Stripe!”

“What?! But _babe_ -”

“Don’t ‘ _babe_ ’ me!” Tweek bit out. He stuck his hands in his jeans’ pockets, away from Craig.

Craig frowned, his heart sinking. First, Stripe was missing, and now Tweek was so mad that he wouldn’t even let him touch him? This was turning out to be the worst day he’d ever had in all the 10 years he’d been alive- tied with, if not beating, that incident in Peru with Stan’s gang.

Craig stuck his hands in his hoodie’s pockets to simulate the feeling of warmth he got when he held Tweek’s hand. It wasn’t the same.

———

“Here’s where I left her,” Craig said, indicating the step level to his house’s front door.

“O-okay. Have you checked the bushes? She might have thought they’d be warm and hid in one of them,” Tweek suggested, already pushing back the bushes near the window.

“I’ve looked all around here, even the backyard,” Craig responded.

Tweek kept his eyes glued to the ground, searching frantically as he walked around the snow. He suddenly paused and stopped in his tracks, eyes widening. “Hey l-look! Little pawprints in the snow! These must be hers!”

Craig rushed to his boyfriend’s side to take a look. He studied the little imprints in the snow. Those belonged to a guinea pig, alright. She was definitely here, which meant they finally had a lead. How did he not see these when he was looking around previously? Probably because he didn’t really think to look for paw prints.

“It looks like she went in the direction of Clyde’s house,” Craig observed out loud. Tweek didn’t waste any time, running up the pathway right next door to Clyde’s house after Craig had barely finished what he was saying. Craig quickly followed behind him.

“Clyde! _Clyde_! Open up!” Tweek yelled, banging on the door so hard that Craig considered the possibility that it might actually break down.

A while later, Clyde answered the door. “Oh! Hey guys, what’s up?” Clyde greeted cheerfully. He turned to Craig. “Dude, why weren’t you replying to me? I was totally telling you about-”

“There are more important things for me to do than respond to your messages,” Craig deadpanned.

“Fine, I’ll tell you now! So like, the other day-”

“Uh, Clyde?” Tweek interrupted before Clyde got too deep into his chatter. Once he got going, it was kind of difficult to get him to stop. “Have you seen Stripe? We followed her paw prints in the snow and the trail led us here.”

“Your guinea pig? You _lost_ her?” Clyde asked in disbelief.

“It wasn't me, _this_ jerk did,” Tweek corrected, thumb pointing to his boyfriend.

“Craig?! Oh man, you really fucked up!” Clyde pointed out, sounding genuinely concerned.

“Just tell us if you’ve seen her or not,” Craig shot back. He didn’t have the energy to listen to Clyde if all he was going to do was be unhelpful.

Clyde was thinking for a moment, probably a first for him, Craig thought. Just then, he snapped his fingers, face perking up like he just remembered something substantial. “Oh! I was actually shoveling snow a while ago and out of the corner of my eye, I remember seeing something run down that way.” Clyde pointed down the road, past Craig’s house. “I didn’t pay attention to it because I thought it was one of Kenny’s rats. I guess that must’ve been Stripe!”

Tweek gasped, rushing out, “okay, okay, thanks! Bye!” before heading quickly into the direction Clyde pointed them in.

“You’re welcome!” Clyde called out to Tweek. “Good luck, dude,” Clyde directed at Craig, shoving his shoulder playfully. Craig flipped him off before chasing after his boyfriend.

Craig was full on running, keeping up right beside Tweek. The air whipped at his face, not as freezing as it usually was. He was grateful for this because at least he lost Stripe on a day that wasn’t as cold, even though he noticed that Stripe #4 did much better in the cold weather than his previous Stripes did. He hated the thought of Stripe all alone somewhere out there. He was incredibly thankful for what they knew of her whereabouts so far, promising himself that he’d be slightly nicer to Clyde when this whole mess was sorted out.

“Stripe! _Stripe_!” Tweek called out. They’d taught her fairly recently to respond to her name. It took a while of painstaking training by calling out her name before giving her food, but she eventually learned it. He remembered how proud he and Tweek were of her when she finally approached them the first time they called her. The rare smile that graced Tweek’s face when he got happy enough about something. 

“Stripe, if you come out now, we’ll never let your dad near you again, I promise!” Tweek said loudly. Craig’s heart broke. Was he really that angry at him?

“She’s mine too, Tweek,” Craig managed weakly, slowing down his pace until he came to a halt at the sidewalk. “Do you think I _wanted_ to lose her?”

Tweek paused and looked back at his boyfriend, his face softening at the expression on Craig’s face. “I-I didn’t mean that. Of course you didn’t want to lose her. I’m just. I’m- I’m _mad_ at you, okay? I’m _still_ mad at you. I love Stripe. She’s both of ours. And I’m u-upset you were so careless with her.”

“I love her too. And I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again,” Craig promised softly.

“You _bet_ it’ll never happen again! I’m going to make _sure_ of that,” Tweek responded firmly.

———

They both continued down the sidewalk until they came across Stan’s dog- Sparky, if Craig remembered the name correctly- who was running around in Stan’s front yard. Craig’s eyes immediately shifted to the dog’s mouth, stained a stark red. He stopped in his tracks as his mind went to the worst possible explanation for it. It couldn't be. But they hadn't found any of Stripe's paw prints anywhere in a while. It was possible. It was completely possible. Tweek stopped as well, following Craig’s gaze. When his eyes landed on it, they immediately went wide with panic.

Tweek’s voice was shaky and heavy with emotion when he spoke. “C-Craig, d-did that dog-”

Craig pulled his boyfriend gently into a hug. He couldn’t help it. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to face what was in front of them if he didn’t have Tweek to hold against him. When Tweek didn’t protest, he held him closer. He could feel the vibrations of Tweek saying things into his chest, loud cries while wet tears landed on his blue hoodie, the one Stripe liked to nuzzle in because it was soft.

There was an intense, heavy guilt that rested itself on Craig’s shoulders. He did this. He was the one who lost her. He was the one who caused Stan’s dog to kill her. He had blood on his hands now. He felt the pain pinch at his chest remembering all the times he, Tweek and Stripe have shared together- going to the playground and having Stripe go down the slide, taking pictures of her in her little outfits they’d bought for her, that time she touched her nose to Tweek’s. He could never have any of those again. He was used to replacing his guinea pigs when they passed away but this one was particularly special. Craig could almost feel tears begin to-

“Uh...guys?”

It was a voice that could only belong to Stan Marsh that interrupted Craig from his grieving.  He wiped at his eyes before looking back at him. Like hell he was about to let Stan Marsh, of all people, see him cry. “Why are you outside my house? I could hear you crying from inside, Tweek. What’s wrong?”

Tweek pulled away from Craig’s hold and choked out, in the most pitiful voice Craig had ever heard, “y-your dog...your dog k-k-killed St-Stripe.”

“Sparky?” Stan’s eyes narrowed in confusion before turning to his dog beside him. He seemed to realize why they thought that because upon shifting his gaze to the dog's mouth, his mouth formed an 'o' shape. “Oh, that! No, th-that’s not blood, dude. I just finished giving him some strawberries as treats.”

A heavy weight felt like it was lifted off of Craig’s chest. Tweek sighed as color rushed back to his face. He left Craig’s embrace completely and wiped at his face to get rid of any tears down his cheeks.

“O-oh, th-thank god,” Tweek croaked. Upon hearing what he sounded like, he cleared his throat before he opened his mouth again. “H-have you seen Stripe, Stan?”

“Yeah, Sparky was actually barking at her before I left to go get strawberries so she ran down the sidewalk,” Stan answered.

Craig glared at him. “And you didn’t even bother to go fucking get her?!”

“Save it, Craig! You’re the one who lost her!” Tweek reminded. 

“Oh, you just got shut _down_ , Tucker,” Stan snickered, reminding Craig exactly why he didn’t like him. He flipped him his middle finger before Tweek shot Stan a quick thanks and tugged on Craig’s sleeve so they could go follow where Stan said Stripe ran off to. Craig might have promised to himself that he’d be a bit nicer to Clyde after he had helped them with their search, but there was no way he’d will himself to be nicer to that douchebag, Marsh. That was just something that wasn’t going to change.

As he and Tweek ventured on, they saw more of Stripe’s pawprints where she started stepping on snow again. It was before the railroad track, meaning Stripe didn’t step foot in the poverty-stricken and drug-ridden part of town known as Kenny’s house. This meant an increase in the possibility that she was safe somewhere, hope sparking in Craig’s chest. They both started sprinting to follow the trail, Craig lagging a bit behind Tweek but only because unlike Craig, Tweek wasn’t looking at where he was stepping, eyes instead focused ahead on the pawprints. Craig called out to his boyfriend, concerned. “Babe, be careful. The snow down here’s melting a bit, you might slip.”

“Stripe’s out there s-somewhere, and I’m not gonna waste a second just becau-”

Before he could finish what he was saying, Tweek’s foot slid on a semi-melted patch of ice, falling backwards when Craig caught him quickly before he could hit the ground. Tweek, for a short moment, looked dazed at the quick succession of events. His green eyes were peering up at Craig who was crouched down with his arms around Tweek’s back. Craig helped him up back to his feet, his hands going to Tweek’s shoulders to steady him. When Craig thought he was going to say something to him, Tweek instead nodded in thanks and continued on to the trail with Craig, much more carefully now.

Stripe must have stopped stepping on snow about right in front of Big Gay Al’s house, since the pawprints led up to the sidewalk again. Tweek quickly went up to Big Gay Al’s front door and knocked frantically. The door opened pretty quickly, like he had just been lounging on his couch when Tweek started knocking. A high voice with a heavy lisp greeted them. “Oh, if it isn’t my two favorite kids! How can I help you sweetie pies?”

“Hi, we’re looking for our guinea pig, Stripe. Have you seen her? She’s a-about the size of your hand and white and brown?” Tweek asked. Craig knew Tweek wasn’t as comfortable talking to adults but he was fine when it was Big Gay Al. He was always incredibly kind to them and seemed to be one of the more sensible adults in South Park. There wasn't really a reason to be scared of talking to him.

“No, I’m so sorry, I haven’t seen her. But do you boys want to come inside? I have some hot cocoa- and some coffee for you, Tweek,” Big Gay Al said welcomingly, the scent of warm drinks wafting in the air when Big Gay Al stepped aside and opened his door a little wider for them to step in.

Craig stared for a moment when the rich scent of coffee reached his nostrils. Something went off inside him, like that smell was the last piece of the puzzle in his head he didn’t even know he was making. He saw the answer in his head, in bold and highlighted and underlined. He was sure. He was so strangely sure of it. He had to go over there. Now. “Babe, come on!”

Craig grabbed his boyfriend’s hand, forgetting about the rule Tweek had set earlier in the day. He ran off with him, leaving behind a confused Big Gay Al who nonetheless, gave them a small wave goodbye. When they got past the playground where a bunch of preschoolers watched as they darted by, Tweek held onto his hand tight and struggled to keep up with him. “Wh-where are you taking me, Craig?!”

He didn’t answer, just kept running as fast as his legs could take him, but making sure Tweek could keep up as they went past the basketball court and then across the street and past the movie theatre until they reached the place he had in mind. The place where they finally found-

“Stripe!” Tweek’s mouth hung open before turning into a big grin, sounding the happiest he’d heard him today. He immediately rushed over to the little guinea pig who was just outside of Tweek’s parents’ coffee shop with her little nose wiggling as she sniffed around. Tweek picked her up and held her to his chest, whether it was to warm her up or he just wanted to cuddle her, Craig didn't know. Either way, the image of his boyfriend and their Stripe together again made a nice, warm feeling radiate through Craig. He loved the little family he had going on. He stepped closer to them.

“I...I just remembered how she liked to sniff you whenever you came over and we’d play together. You always smell like coffee, so I figured she’d be here, maybe looking for you,” Craig explained as he stroked Stripe’s fur that he missed so much.

Tweek looked up at him, smiling at him for the first time today. His green eyes seemed to twinkle as he gazed up at Craig. Then, he did something that surprised Craig. Tweek leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, making Craig’s heart beat faster than he’d ever felt it before. He could feel his cheeks burning red. That was perfect. Tweek had never kissed him before, this was the first time. Craig was always the one to initiate everything they’d done when it came to physical contact, which was previously just hand holding and hugs and putting an arm around each others shoulders. Now, he guessed, it was kissing on the cheek too. If that was something that was going to start happening regularly, Craig might need to tell Tweek to warn him before every time he planned to do it because he wasn't sure if he could take it if it were to be a surprise again. He was pretty sure he'd need to be mentally prepared for that.

“I’m sorry I was so mean to you today,” Tweek said sincerely, blushing just as hard as Craig was from the kiss.

“It’s okay, honey,” Craig assured, still smiling and elated as all the happy feelings he didn’t get to feel throughout the day rushed in. “I get why you were. Honestly, I kind of deserved it.”

Tweek giggled, lightly pushing Craig with his shoulder. “Let’s get Stripe back home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please ignore the weird breaks in this and how rushed it is i just wanted it to be a fun little thing! But thanks so much for reading!


End file.
